Yesterday's Massive "No Kings" Protests

 

It was massive and widespread, and a historic repudiation of the most evil, corrupt, incompetent, would-be-king in American history:

The demonstration outside the Minnesota State Capitol for the marquee "No Kings" rally, with Bruce Springsteen and Jane Fonda on the bill, wasn't the most notable development during the day of protests on March 28.

More notable was the "No Kings" march in Staunton, Virginia. And Salisbury, Maryland. Rockford, Illinois. Beaver, Pennsylvania. Eugene, Oregon. Chillicothe, Ohio. Port Huron, Michigan. Flatwoods, West Virginia. And more than 3,000 other places across the country, plus a scattering around the world. [snip]

It was among the largest protests in American history.

The organizers' crowd count, not verified by independent analysts, put the total at 8 million people, topping the 7 million estimated at the last "No Kings" day, in October 2025. This time, there were more events scheduled − 3,300 versus 2,700 − and larger crowds reported in some places, boosted in part by opposition to the war in Iran.

The only larger single-day protest ever held in the United States was the first Earth Day in 1970, when an estimated 20 million participated in environmental rallies and teach-ins.

Consider this: In a nation with a population approaching 349 million, the participation of 8 million people means that more than one of every 50 U.S. residents joined a No Kings rally.

Organizers said two-thirds of the participants who signed up lived outside big cities, a 40% increase over last time in those from suburban, small town and rural addresses.  [snip]

The profusion of locations for the third event means the marches may have commanded less national news coverage than iconic protests that centered on Washington, DC, including the civil rights March on Washington in 1963 and the antiwar Vietnam Moratorium protest in 1969.

But the fact that the rallies were in local plazas and the marchers headed down hometown streets also, presumably, makes it more difficult for critics to dismiss the protests as the province of radical liberals from the East and West coasts... (our emphasis)

"🎶 All you fascists bound to lose, all you fascists bound to lose..."

(Photo:  "No Kings" protest in St. Paul, MN / Nicole Neri, Minnesota Reformer)